(This movie is a technical tour-de-force. Many of the visuals are jaw-droppingly amazing, and any of visuals that include Monica Belluci as Persephone -- ohmygod! -- who leads Neo to The Keymaker -- were like icing on the cake. But to me, a true believer in the Neo prophecy, the plot is a twisted, convoluted mess. Too many upgrades to the program. Too many new characters. Too intellectual a backstory: we're actually in Matrix 6.0? What?

I'll see it again, just to grok what the Oracle and the Architect were really telling Neo. And before you jump on me, I do know that they'll clean up all the loose ends in Part 3, but come on, they could have made the plotline a little clearer. Each movie should also stand on its own. Still, it's a must-see!)

Updated:
Kevin over at Ghost.I.T.M, and definitely one of the blogger/filmcrits that I appreciate, has some more commentary on Reloaded.

The Salon review of the film is gushing. « 9:12:45 PM »    

Lakers Suck, Part 2 (NBA.com)
There will be a new champion in the NBA in 2003.

(Bye, bye Whaq, Dobe, Phil, Robert Sorry, Vanessa Williams' husband, and even my Stanford brother, Maddog Madsen. Hey Dobe (who was on the verge of crying when Jim Gray got to him) what's your thirst? Staying on top? I think you need some refreshment. My favorite part of the ABC broadcast -- and I still cannot believe they let this through -- was when the Spurs are huddled around their coach, Gregg Popovich, in the latter moments of the game, and he says, "Let's win this one with class. No huge celebrations. None of that kind of sh*t." And then Steve Kerr pops out, "Can I talk sh*t to that one guy out there? (pointing towards the stands) He's been bugging me all night." And Popovich says, "OK." Then Kerr yells out, "You're a punk boy!" Where the hell were the censors on this? )
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